The Normanton Church Wedding of Anna and James

Friday 13th may be unlucky for some but for Anna and James it is a date they will remember fondly for many many years to come. I’ll also remember this day for years to come, but for slight different reasons #TheCameraThatDidNotDefyGravity; but such events are why professionals always carry more than one!

The day was a cloudy one with the threat of rain, and as soon as Tom and I arrived and saw Anna’s beautiful white lace dress Tom raced home to get my trusty wellies and a white sheet for Anna to stand on for photos. We will never knowingly muddy a dress, especially not one as beautiful as Anna’s!! More on this later…

Bridal prep took place in the cottage at Rutland Water Golf course, we were greeted by Anna, her 3 bridesmaids and a third lady who we fondly nicknamed the Interloper. This particular interloper, a non-bridesmaid but good friend had travelled from Australia, and provided much amusement by spending the morning running around in an attempt to avoid an accidental photo-bomb. She failed 🙂

When I am shooting a wedding solo; I like to try and get to the church or ceremony venue ahead of time to make sure I can get a few photos of the groom and his entourage, and when you are photographing a wedding at Normanton Church the backdrop makes this even better!

This time however Anna was the one who would be arriving first! Did you know you can choose which way you would like to face when getting married inside Normanton church? And as there is only one entrance and exit from the church, if you want to walk down the aisle the way Anna did then you need to arrive early and hide in the back – don’t worry there’s loads of space and you can spy on all of the guests arriving too!

With Anna safely hidden I went back outside to photograph early arriving guest and James looking calm and collected (read nervous). I assumed my role of chief button hole pinner and instructed Damo in exactly how to pin the button hole on for James – a skill that has taken me time to perfect but which I am very proud of.

After a truly beautiful ceremony Tom ushered all of the guests back to Rutland Water Golf Course, whilst I stayed behind and snuck in a few photos of the newlyweds at Normanton Church. We didn’t have the venue for long but I knew if we worked quickly we could get some memories for them, and it was a nice way for them to take in the fact that THEY WERE NOW MARRIED!

It was at this exact moment one of my cameras decided to take a topple from my holster and smashed on the floor. After a heart dropping moment I gathered myself together, safe in the knowledge that I did in fact have two cameras and several other lenses so everything was fine and most importantly, the photography could continue. But this my dear reader is the reason you should always choose a photographer that does in fact have more than one camera. I have never had this happen to me before but boy am I glad I was prepared for it.

Not being put off by the weather and the fact we couldn’t race around in the golf buggies (Tom was secretly pretty upset about that) we had arrived early to look for some new locations for the couple portraits at Rutland Water Golf course and it really paid off. I actually like it when the weather throws us a curve ball like this, it forces me to think outside of the box and we came up with some great locations. And of course with the welly boots we had even more scope.

I specialise in working with couples who don’t ‘really’ want to have their photo taken but at the same time would like photographs to remember their day by. Whilst I will advise you on, what to do, where to stand, and give some simple instructions. I also work to get natural reactions from you, along with my wonderful husband Tom, we aim to capture the real you, the couple that your friends and family see and not the couple who are being forced to stand and smile at the camera. This is also where things like the welly boots come in to play. There is just no way you can feel too posed when wearing a wedding dress and welly boots, try it, I dare you!

We didn’t want the bride and groom to go hungry and miss their canapés, so Tom ran off to fetch some for them, they were very well received – and I think some of the best canapés I have seen at any wedding, proper food and so comforting on a rainy, cloudy day.

I will leave you with a few images from the reception, and some of my favourite dance floor shots, such an awesome crowd and fuelled by the biggest wheel of cheese I have ever seen!! They had a cake of cheese as their wedding cake, a fantastic idea, check the credits below for the link.

Another Brief Introduction Welcome to the second instalment of the Wedding Planning Tips saga. For those lucky enough not to be aware of Part 1; it happened in blog post far far away; where topics such as Budgets, Guest Lists & Save The Dates were discussed. For...

I First met Ash and Ruta on a Sunny evening in June this year. I knew immediately that theirs was going to be a wedding I would remember. The way they look at each other, and how they naturally are so at ease together, always giggling and making jokes was so wonderful to see and their wedding day was no different.